Homestand Heroics: No. 12 Men’s Lacrosse Topples RV Michigan 14-11

Broadcaster Adam Pascal was correct in predicting that the battle between No. 12 Harvard (4-1, 0-0 Ivy) and RV Michigan (4-3) might be reduced to the Crimson’s “sub-plot” of playing a game that came down to two distinct halves, with Harvard eking out a 14-11 win over the visiting Wolverines that all came down to the fourth quarter.

Harvard dominated the first 30 minutes, with Head Coach Gerry Byrne’s team finding success on both ends of the field. With play seemingly coming together for the Crimson, it just needed to hold onto the four-goal lead it brought with it into half time, but the feat almost proved too difficult for the host.

Heading into play with just a 31% win percentage on the face off, clinching possession time was a crucial focus for the squad if it hoped to neutralize what is always a crafty Michigian offense.

Stepping up were freshman FOGO Jackson Henehan and junior FOGO Matt Barraco — who played his first minutes of the season after coming off of a knee injury — as the pair fought for a much improved 44% of the takes. Not taking the field yesterday were sophomore FOGO Owen Umansky — a highly-touted recruit for Byrne last season, who went 1-7 last game against Marquette — or freshman FOGO Trevor Sardis — the all-time career faceoff win record holder for the state of New Jersey, who went 0-5 as well last week.

“We had great wingplay yesterday at the faceoff,” Henehan said about what allowed Harvard to be more successful at the faceoff X. “They got a lot of loose balls that could have gone either way, and I was reacting well to the whistle.”

It took five minutes for either team to draw blood, with the first strike falling in favor of Michigan following several back-and-forth possessions that were neutralized on either unforced errors or stops by the defenses. Freshman goalie Graham Stevens stood strong between the pipes, making several momentum-ending plays that kept the Crimson grounded through all four quarters, but it was his first three saves in the first that really allowed him to get his nerves in check. With about 12 minutes on the clock, Stevens made two point-blank saves before clearing the ball out to his waiting defensemen.

Getting it over the midline and into the offensive zone, Harvard was able to settle it down and work the ball. However, a forced take by junior attackman Teddy Malone — whose name would notably not get on the stat line until the last minute of play — saw the Crimson turn possession right back over the waiting Wolverines, who found success with their settled six-on-six. Noticing that junior defenseman Charlie Muller wasn’t paying close attention, Michigan attackman Nick Roode got a step above his matchup on GLE and cut into the middle where he was met by a slick feed from Lukas Stanat for a point-blank take on Stevens.

Winning the next faceoff on a violation against Michigan, Harvard recreated a similar play, this time with junior middie John Aurandt IV — who, perhaps based on his scouting report as a dodger rather than feeder — drew a quick slide at the top of the arc. Sophomore attackman Jack Speidell noticed that his defender turned his head to watch the slide, and quickly reacted, cutting around the far-side of the crease for a zinger of a feed that he quickly sailed past the Wolverines’ net minder Hunter Taylor.

The next two goals fell for Harvard, with the Crimson finding its first lead of the day on a goal from senior attackman Sam King who finished the ball squarely on a feed from junior middie Logan Ip. The third would come off the cross of senior middie Miles Botkiss, who sailed down the middle of the arc where he jumped up to grab a nifty lefty past from Speidell who tripped up his shortie behind the cage with a slick right-to-left split that allowed him to get his hands free and sail the ball into space for the waiting Botkiss.

Breaking up Harvard’s momentum, the next goal went in favor of Michigan, but the Crimson ended the first quarter with another tally, with Speidell once again getting involved. Senior middie Joe Dowling — a lethal lefty who has worked his way into the second midfield rotation — found himself with the ball at X after picking up the rebound on a misfire from Malone who sailed the ball wide and dribbling on the turf. In the hubbub, Dowling kept his head up before sending it to his adjacent Speidell, who had his hands free in front of the crease with his short-stick matchup. The sophomore showed off his stick skills, slinging the ball lefty behind-the-back with so much zip that he actually tore the netting in the top-right corner, halting play as the officials had to switch out the cage.

Heading into the second, Michigan notched the first tally just 40 seconds into play, making quick work of the Harvard defense. Relying on the strength of its one-on-one defense, the Crimson was slow to slide and send the adjacent help, which allowed the Wolverines to work several dodges into rotation against their short-stick matchups, and take advantage of the lack of second slide coverage that resulted.

Senior SSDM Ray Dearth showed why he is the cornerstone of the SSDM unit, posting four much-needed ground balls and one caused turnover on the day. Flanked by junior Finn Jenson who played lights out, and junior Owen Guest, Byrne’s defensive unit extended to include stellar play from junior LSM Sean Jordan, senior LSM Jake Brownley, and sophomore LSM Wyatt Wiggins.

The close-D trio of senior Martin Nelson — who had four GBs and two CTOs while locking down one of the most cunning attackman in the nation in Ryan Cohen — senior Logan Darrin — who posted one CTO — and junior defenseman Charlie Muller, did its job in abating the threat of the Wolverines’ offense during the first half, keeping the 13th-highest scoring offense (which has notched 77 goals over the course of its season so far) to just five strikes.

On the other end, the attack was once again quarterbacked by King, who has reasserted himself as a lethal shooting threat following a stretch of assist-heavy performances to open the season. With six goals against Michigan, it is safe to say that King has found his groove, and just in time for Yale next weekend. While the trio of King, Malone and Speidell certainly got the ball moving, what proved to be the tipper in favor of Harvard was the depth of the offensive midfield lines that saw the likes of seniors Owen Gaffney, Botkiss and Dowling, juniors Andrew Perry, Aurandt IV, Ip, and Francisco Cortes, all make their mark against the Wolverines.

“We played as a team with simple offense and we’re moving the ball very well with multiple players being influential throughout the game,” Speidell said.

Out-scoring Michigan 5-3 in the second quarter, the Harvard offense showed why it was ranked the second-most efficient in the nation heading into the day, stringing together a set of four awesome goals that catapulted the team to its greatest margin of lead, 9-4. The final of the stretch came from Aurandt IV who took it himself from the top of the arc, bull dodging through his first defender before swim dodging over the slide, narrowly getting his bottom hand on his shaft before ripping the ball behind the back over his defender and past Taylor’s left shoulder in a play that landed at the No. 5 spot on Sports Center Top-10 highlights.

With plays like that falling in favor of the Crimson, it seemed that the Harvard train couldn’t be stopped as it headed into the final 30 minutes. Despite clinching a third-straight victory, the second-straight in its three-game homestand, finding success throughout all fourth quarters once again evaded Harvard as it ended the first 30 minutes up by a decisive four goals. Michigan made the most of the 10-minute recess, reorienting its game plan as it made its way back to Jordan Field.

On the offensive end, what seemed to distinguish play between the first and second halves was the Wolverines’ awareness on offense of the mis-match in short-stick matchups that it didn’t attack with enough vigour in the first. What sparked a few Michigan goals was the heads up, off-ball play by the attackers flanking the ball on the wings, who deftly drew their defensemen away from ball to allow the Michigan attackmen time and space to dodge on the shorties while subsequently lengthening the initial helping slide. The miscommunication on the Harvard end was worked through by the end of the fourth quarter, but the reliance on the surety of the one-on-one play was something that swung in Michigan’s favor.

What also changed at the half was coverage on the Harvard attackmen. Recognizing the threat that Speidell posed in the first, the Wolverines — far too late into the game — changed coverage from a shortie to a pole, somewhat stymying Speidell’s threat level in the second two quarters. Into the fourth, Michigan interestingly started shading on King, trying to eliminate his off-ball momentum — although that would prove fruitless as the Harvard offense found its most success in the second half when the Wolverines began scrambling to force the five-on-five coverage.

Michigan decisively won the third quarter, outscoring the Crimson by five to two and crawling back into a one goal game by the end of the quarter. With the score telling a very different story than the play on the field, momentum seemed to tip into Michigan’s favor as the two squads convened for the short break heading into the final stretch of play.

Perhaps it was nerves, but neither squad played their best lacrosse in the fourth, making careless errors in the midfield, shifting late to slides, and forcing unnecessary would-be-hero plays through solid double teams on the attack. Case in point, with about 10 minutes on the clock Stevens made a stand on his head save, but on the rebounding clear struck a Wolverines attackman standing in front of the cage, almost resulting in an own goal. Those nerves plagued both teams, but it was the visitor that was able to swallow them first.

Michigan struck at about the seven minute mark on a physical clear from John Morgan who got the outlet pass from Taylor and decided to take it himself up the middle of the field. Harvard’s ride excelled, but the end of play sloppiness almost got the best of the team as King booked it to catch up to Morgan, eliciting an easy flag throw from the referee as his last-ditch wrap check at the 50 caught Morgan in the chin. Morgan didn’t stop his momentum, though, barrelling down and absorbing the pressure as he raced through the middle of the field where the Harvard defense failed to slide to pick him up.

Sending the ball past Stevens, the game was now tied at 11 apiece. The Michigan bench erupted in a raucous set of cheers as it tasted a comeback brewing.

But Harvard wasn’t about to let that happen, let alone on its home turf. The last five minutes of play were all Crimson. Seeing red, the home team seized the pace of play and showed why it deserves to be a contender for a top-10 spot. Ever the quarterback, King took it to the hoop for the next two scores, the first one on his own with his signature curl around the left side of the cage.

The second — about four minutes later with one minute on the clock — came on a complete blunder from the Michigan defense. Breaking down and utterly failing to communicate through its slides, the Wolverines tried to jump the double on Malone in the low left corner, and recognizing that both his defender and the goalie jumped toward the junior to start the double-team chase, King popped low toward the goal under his matchup. Leaving the No. 7 player in the nation all on his own in front of an empty net is never part of the game plan. Catching the easy look from Malone, King buried it deep in the net.

However, Harvard recognized that one minute can seem like an eternity in lacrosse, and didn’t start its celebrations early. Perhaps best remembered in Notre Dame’s 2016 game against powerhouse Denver — under Byrne’s expertise as an assistant coach for the Fighting Irish — when Notre Dame posted four goals in just 43 seconds, the script can flip in a moment on the turf. However, there would not be a repeat of that on Jordan Field. In fact, the Crimson hammered home its win with one additional score, this time on a goal from Malone on another open net with just 14 seconds left on the clock.

While the Crimson was able to clinch the win with its last minute resurgence, it needs to string together two cohesive halves of lacrosse if it hopes to beat the Elis this weekend. What went well for the team was generating more possession time and creating looks on those minutes. Harvard out-shot Michigan 45 to 32, but at the same time went 0-3 on its man up opportunities, which was abnormal for a squad that ranks in the top echelon of extra-man efficiency.

Building on the success at the faceoff will be crucial for the squad as it takes on Yale (1-3, 0-0 Ivy) next weekend, as the Bulldogs have been heating up at the X. Senior FOGO Machado Rodriguez posted awesome numbers for Yale last season, hovering around 61% for the entire 15-game stretch. However, the senior has had a slow start to 2025, hitting about a 44% win rate heading into the team’s game against Denver yesterday — which notably marked its first win of the season. Against Denver, Rodriguez posted an impressive 79% win percentage — although freshman FOGO Nick Wehmeyer won all four of his clamps, which indicates a mis-match at the X between the two programs — so styming his momentum will be essential as the Crimson looks to continue building at the position.

The Crimson showed grit yesterday, winning scrums in the midfield and showing a scrappy side that it hadn’t since Syracuse. GBs are the name of the game for Byrne, and the team came to play, scooping up almost 10 more than the Wolverines. Hustle plays like that will be the secret sauce needed for victory on Saturday.

“We had great energy in the game yesterday,” Henehan said. “Everyone on the field and sideline was super loud and it was a huge factor in our momentum created after each big play.”

Harvard will certainly look to keep that momentum rolling as it is set to host Ancient Eight rival Yale on Saturday. Kicking off Ivy League play for the Crimson, Byrne and his squad will look to complete a perfect three-game homestand in what is always a difficult contest against Head Coach Andy Shay and the Bulldogs.

—Staff writer Katharine A. Forst can be reached at katharine.forst@thecrimson.com.